Unplugging: R.E.M calls it quits after 30 years

As many bands gear up for tours and special performances, MXDWN is sad to say we lost a legendary band this week. Their music remains engraved in the hearts of fans, and we’ll keep on rocking.

After 30 years together, the Grammy-winning alt-rock group R.E.M has announced their amicable breakup via their website. "A wise man once said — ‘the skill in attending a party is knowing when it’s time to leave.’ We built something extraordinary together. We did this thing. And now we’re going to walk away from it," front man Michael Stipe explained in a statement on Wednesday.

With so many bands that eventually meet distasteful breakups and lost relationships, R.E.M. seems to be closing the book before things can go south. Guitarist Peter Buck assured fans that the group walked away remaining "great friends."

Faith No Mores’ keyboardist Roddy Bottum dropped a hint months ago via Twitter about the group’s upcoming November 12th show in Santiago, Chile. Bassist Billy Gould and Bottum have now officially confirmed that as a special performance at the Maquinaria Festival, the group will play their classic album King for a Day . . . Fool For a Lifetime in its entirety. This special performance will feature the group’s original guitarist from the album’s time, Trey Spruance.

Although Spruance never performed once with Faith No More, he wrote and recorded all the guitar parts for the group’s classic 1995 album. As Jon Hudson took the slot as the guitarist for all the group’s reunion shows, Spruance went on to play for the band Mr. Bungle, and is now behind the Secret Chiefs 3 project.

In music sharing news, just as Spotify seemed to be getting a leg up in the online music sharing community, many labels have begun to fight to have their catalogs removed from the site. Prosthetic Records is the latest label to remove their material from the UK music streaming website. Spotify is getting a bad rap from labels due to their alleged underpayment of artists’ streamed music. "The only income from the service comes in 'fractions of pennies,' even on their biggest titles," said Prosthetic Records co-owner E.J. Johantgen. Many have claimed that the exposure of bands garnered by Spotify does more damage than good, as it brings in little funds to smaller musicians.

It’s been a busy week for Radiohead. Wednesday night via a BBC Radio broadcast, front man Thom Yorke announced the band will tour on and off throughout 2012 in promotion of their latest album, The King of Limbs. Because of the massive support garnered at Radiohead’s surprise Glastonbury performance earlier this summer, the group feels comfortable enough with performing their latest album live, and will tour starting in 2012. No official dates have been announced as of yet.

Thom Yorke also debuted his solo track, "The Twist" this week on the British radio station XFM. The solo track is part of Yorke’s 25-minute "MoneyBack Mix." The mix also features 2 remixed songs from The King of Limbs. Yorke had the help of U.K. composers John Matthias and Nick Ryan on his innovative remix. In the meantime, Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood has been in the studio with Krzysztof Penderecki, working on a collaborative album.

After a two-year hiatus, The Raconteurs are together once more, and performed at Third Man Records in Nashville earlier this month. The day after, the group played at Ryman Auditorium, and now video and sound clips from their recent performances have surfaced to refresh our memories of the group’s power and volume. They have three show dates lined up thus far in Georgia, Louisiana, and Florida.

Unplugging In Brief:

a href="http://www.mxdwn.com/2011/09/21/topstory/r-e-m-breaks-up/">R.E.M. Breaks Up - Legendary alt-rock band R.E.M. has announced their break up, and even though the band walked away on good terms, we can’t help but feel a little blue.